Book excerpt: "This volume represents the fourth in a series of five Class 1 Overview histories prepared by the Colorado State Office, Bureau of Land Management. The purpose of these works is to develop a synthetic history of a given area in order to provide our managers and staff specialists with a baseline overview of the history of a district. ... It must be noted that the major cities , like Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Greeley are only mentioned. This is because there is no public land in these places and the Bureau's mandate is to manage the public lands, not private estates."--Foreword.